Baking Bonanza: Chocolate Bourbon Ricotta Cupcakes

There is some perfection that is almost beyond words. These cupcakes are a prime example. I first had them  this fall when my internship supervisor offered me one as a pick me up on a rough morning. Each bite of these swirled wonders is a mix of chocolate and orange, with the bourbon adding a richness and the ricotta keeping the texture light and fluffy.  When I got home from work, I immediately tracked down the recipe, from the incomparable Orangette. It was a hit with my friends at school, so I figured that since I'm home for winter break with a much nicer kitchen to work with, I'd try making them for the family. Everyone liked them, and they're definitely going on the make again list!

Chocolate Bourbon Ricotta Cupcakes
Adapted from Orangette (who in turn adapted it from Gourmet)
makes about 12 cupcakes





These are a little time consuming, but well worth it. The gist of it is that you make two batters, layer and swirl them, and deliciousness ensues.

Ricotta  mixture ingredients:
-1 cup whole-milk ricotta
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 large egg white (I used a whole egg by accident and it turned out fine, so don't stress)
-1 tbsp bourbon (feel free to up that a bit if you want the richness of the Bourbon to come through a little more strongly)
-1 tsp finely grated orange zest (I end up using more like 1 or 2 tbsp zest, I always get carried away. And then there was the time I tried to zest a grapefruit... but that's a different story.)
-1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Again, up it if you want! Don't skimp on the good stuff!)
-pinch of salt

Chocolate batter:
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I can never seem to find legit Dutch-process stuff at the grocery stores I go to, so I've used regular Hershey's and Godiva unsweetened cocoa powder)
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 cup canola oil
-1/2 cup milk
-1 egg
-1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
-1 tbsp vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp orange-flower water (I have yet to find this anywhere, so I go ahead and do a tbsp of orange extract. This makes them particularly orangey, so if you want to tone it down, adjust accordingly)

Preheat your oven to 350, and prep a muffin tin with liners.

Mix up all of the ricotta mixture ingredients in a medium sized bowl, and stash it in the fridge to chill.

While that's cooling, mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and sugar) in a larger bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (oil, milk, egg, vinegar, and extracts). As you stir, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones in the large bowl.


Grab the ricotta mixture ingredients from the fridge. In each cupcake liner, layer a spoonful of chocolate batter, a spoonful of the ricotta mixture, and a top layer of chocolate batter. Once they're all full, go through and swirl with a knife (You're supposed to do a figure eight swirl, but my helpers and I never seem to be able to accomplish that in a graceful manner. As long as it gets sort of mixed up, you should be okay.)


Bake the cupcakes for about 30 minutes (if they don't pass the clean toothpick test, leave them in for a little longer.) They're incredible warm, but they hold up well for a couple days - assuming they last that long!

And if you, like me, find yourself with an awkward amount of ricotta left (about a 1/2 cup?), make a half batch of Lemon Ricotta muffins (Or cupcakes? Without the frosting, it all seems to be semantics.)